Squid have shared details of their third studio album, Cowards.
Spanning nine tracks, the record, a press release said, “is about evil”, and was recorded in London with producers Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. Speedy Wunderground label boss Dan Carey also contributed additional production, having overseen the recording of the band’s previous two albums.
Cowards features additional contributions from the likes of Clarissa Connelly, Tony Njoku, Rosa Brook of punk band Pozi, and percussionist Zands Duggan. The Ruisi Quartet also play violin, viola and cello on the record.
The new album is preceded by lead single ‘Crispy Skin’, for which you can watch a video below. Directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Ito, the visual is an adaptation of his 1995 experimental short film Zone.
In a statement about the single, lead singer Ollie Judge said: “‘Crispy Skin’ was lyrically inspired by a dystopian novel I read [Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica] where cannibalism becomes the societal norm and humans are manufactured and sold in supermarkets. I think when most people read books like these they picture themselves as the sort of person that would take the moral high-ground within these narratives. The track was written about how the reality of having a moral-compass in these stories of desperation and horror would be extremely difficult.”
Cowards follows on from Squid’s 2023 album, O Monolith.
Warp Records will release Cowards on February 7, 2025.
